Realizations
by LexaRose
Summary: Brief mention of FujiEiji, eventual OishiEiji. Three years after the series, the boys are in high school and Eiji receives some unpleasant news from Oishi.
1. Rent

**Title:** Realizations: Rent  
**Author:** Alexis  
**Pairing/Characters:** Oishi, Kikumaru, wee bit o' Fuji (gaspu I actually wrote him!)  
**Rating:** PG  
**Part:** 1/3, probably  
**Warnings:** Eiji POV, angst, pissy redhead, Fuji (needs a warning all in itself, 'cause I WROTE HIM), possible shounen ai hints (okay, probably more than just 'possible'), overuse of a cliché storyline  
**Summary:** Three years after the series. The boys are in high school. Eiji receives some unpleasant news from Oishi, and gets ukeish upset.  
**Disclaimer:** If I owned Prince of Tennis, all the boys would be paired with each other, so that's why I write fanfiction.  
**Notes:** For one the first line challenge in **encryptedminds**. 

_What is reality without a dream to pursue, and what is a dream with reality to escape from. Yet, when that dream comes crashing down, reality takes on a whole different meaning._

"Eiji, I got accepted into Tokyo University, pre-med. Isn't that great?"

The smile freezes on my face as I stop short while opening the front door for you. You called before saying that you had good news, but I didn't expect this. You never told me that you had applied to go anywhere other than Seigaku for college. Why didn't you tell me? We're partners; I thought we told each other everything.

...well, not anymore, we're not.

"Yeah, that's great! Congratulations." Can you tell how fake my smile is? How fake my cheer, my well-wishes are? Do you know that all I want to do is scream, to grab your shoulders and shake you, to ask you WHY you are doing this to me, to us? What happened to the Golden Pair? I haven't beaten you yet, I'm not ready for this to end.

And no, I'm not thinking about why it is that I haven't beaten you. Even if there is a small voice in my head whispering that I could have done so years ago. Not listening, nope, not at all. I silenced that voice, just as many years ago, and I'm not about to listen to its words now of all times.

You stay for a few more minutes, talking about how excited you are, and how you can't wait for the term to start, and I don't think you've noticed how little I've been speaking, how little I've been smiling. You get up to leave, saying you have to be home for dinner, but wanted to tell me the good news in person. I give you another wan smile, and watch your retreating back get smaller and smaller, until I can't see you anymore.

That night when I sleep, I don't dream. It's like being submerged in deep water, surrounded by blackness, and when I awake, I feel more tired than when I went to bed. My day is a fog, everything having a surreal sort of dream-like quality to it.

Fuji is the first person to realize something is wrong. But then again, he's been my best friend for longer than I can remember, nor care to remember for that matter. He knows me better than I know myself; he probably knew what was wrong, what was going to happen, even before I did. His smile hides a lot, more than I'll probably ever know, but that doesn't change the fact that he's my friend...although that day, I wouldn't have wanted to admit that.

"Eiji, did you really think this wasn't going to happen?"

Right now, there's nothing I would rather do than dump my melon soda over Fuji's head...but then I'd get thirsty, and he'd probably do something to get back at me like slip some wasabi into my ice cream. After the first time he did that, I swore never to give him a reason to do it again.

"No; well, okay, maybe...but why didn't he tell me before now?"

Fuji just smiles, and gives me a knowing look. Okay, fine; so I would have gotten mad – but I'm angrier now, since he didn't tell me in the first place. Don't I have the right to be upset? I'm not the one hiding things from his doubles partner, the one letting people assume one thing and then going behind their back and doing something else entirely. That title goes to one Oishi Syuichirou.

The bell rings for us to return to our classes from the lunch period and we go back together, leaving the rooftop sanctuary we had discovered back in junior high, and continued to seek out through high school when needed. Unlike then, though, we're not in the same class and we part ways to deal with the rest of our day. Only half-over, I was ready to go home, but unfortunately, there was still tennis to get through.

Practice rolls around, and our doubles are affected. I hear the whispers, but I can't bring myself to correct the slight change in our timing, the distance that's keeping us from being able to read each other. I know I'm not trying. What's the point, anyway? Soon enough he'll be gone off to college on the other side of the city, and there will be no more Golden Pair.

I know I'm sulking; I'm seventeen, and should be past that, but I'm allowed. I'm the youngest of five children, and I've perfected pouting to an art form. The other regulars see it most, because they've known me for years, but I try to pass it off with my usual bright grins, explaining that I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and wasn't that history test awful?

I know Oishi is looking at me, wondering what's going on, but I just turn away, go talk to Fuji, to Momo, to anyone in order to get away from those green eyes. Practice finally ends, and instead of walking with Oishi, I latch onto an excuse to run home quickly, not even changing out of my uniform, saying I have to do something for one of my sisters. At least the tennis season is almost over, and then after that, the school year, and we'll be going off to college. Well, _some people_ will be going off to college, others will be staying right where they are, where they _belong_.


	2. Eviction

**Title:** Realizations: Eviction  
**Author:** Alexis  
**Pairing/Characters:** Oishi, Kikumaru, Fuji...smidget of Dream Pair this chapter (which is totally for **arithion** )  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Part:** 2/3, probably  
**Warnings:** Eiji POV, angst, pissy redhead, Fuji (needs a warning all in itself, 'cause I WROTE HIM), yaoi  
**Summary:** Right before college starts. Fuji visits Eiji and poses some questions in a rather unconventional manner. Both get some answers, though just what those are are up for debate.  
**Disclaimer:** If I owned Prince of Tennis, all the boys would be paired with each other, so that's why I write fanfiction.  
**Notes:** For the first line challenge in **encryptedminds**. 

High school is over. It's official; we're not children anymore, though I don't see how leaving a school makes that so. Soon enough, university will be starting, so this is a last chance to see friends, and to just be ourselves before all the responsibilities set in.

Ever since Oishi told me about his university plans, the two of us have grown apart. I admit that it's on purpose, but it's not my fault. He initiated it by hiding something that big from me, by acting as if I shouldn't be upset, by being so happy to be leaving me...I mean, leaving Seigaku.

My sister asked me what was going on after I kept telling her to tell Oishi that I wasn't home or wasn't available whenever he called or stopped by. After I explained, she asked me why I wasn't acting like this with Fuji. Sisters just don't understand. It's not the same with Fuji; he's not my partner, he's my best friend. Besides, I always knew he wasn't going to be staying at Seigaku, so it's not even comparable, really.

The week before term started, Fuji came over to hang out. The moment I opened the door for him, I knew I was finally going to get the talk he had been storing up for months. I also knew there wasn't any way to avoid it, since he would have slipped it in so subtly I wouldn't notice until it's too late and I'm answering all his questions anyway.

Reaching my room, I sat down on the bed, thinking nothing about it when Fuji joins me there, although he's sitting much closer than he normally would. Maybe I should have been more observant, but my mind was already preoccupied with the questions my upcoming interrogation was bound to include.

When he started to talk, I didn't even realize until his face was directly in front of mine, looking at me. His eyes were open, and it was like those bright blue eyes could see right into me, see all my secrets. 

"Nya? I'm sorry Fuji, I kinda zoned out there a bit. Did you ask me something?"

I didn't realize just how close Fuji's face was to mine, not until the moment when he closed those last few inches, and kissed me. Now, I'm about to go to college, I've had girlfriends, quite a few of them. But I had never kissed another guy until that moment.

The first thought that occurred to me was that Fuji's lips were soft, and tasted faintly of apples. He must have eaten one before coming over. It was like second nature for my lips to part under his, for my tongue to come out and tangle with his.

We fell back onto the bed, him on top of me, and it was like something that had always been missing with girls was suddenly there. Our bodies fit together – not perfectly, but better – and it just had a feeling of rightness that had never been there before. Something still felt like it was missing but this...this felt good.

But then Fuji broke the kiss and pulled away, and I know the confusion must have been like neon lights on my face. Catching my breath, I could only ask one question as he got up and stood, straightening his clothes.

"Why?"

He turned back, eyes closed again, smile hiding anything that might have been written there. "To answer my questions. And yours." And with that he left, while I just sat blinking after him. Answer my questions? Why did Fuji always have to be so damn cryptic all the time?!

Flopping back down on the bed, I reached for Daigoro and pulled him close, chin resting on his head, staring at the empty fish tank on the desk. Oishi had gotten it for me for my sixteenth birthday, complete with fish. After I found out about him going to Tokyo instead of Seigaku, they kind of all died. It wasn't my fault, really. Couldn't look at them any more anyway, so I guess it wasn't that big of a deal.

While I lie there, staring at an empty tank, one that has laid empty for a while now, I feel the urge to fill it again. Carrying it into the bathroom, I fill the tank up with water, and bring it back into my bedroom, careful not to spill any. Fiddling with the pump and hoses and filters and everything takes a while, but it's finally set up, air bubbling through the water once again.

After watching the water a moment longer, I turned away and headed for the door. All this must mean something, but I'm not going to think about that right now. Now, I have some fish to buy.


	3. Mortgage

**Title:** Realizations: Mortgage  
**Author:** Alexis  
**Pairing/Characters:** OishiEiji (finally!)  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Part:** 3/3 (oh dear God, did I actually finish a multi-parter? shocku)  
**Warnings:** Eiji POV, fluff, sap, all that good stuff  
**Summary:** After their freshman year in college, Eiji reflects on things he learned about himself in the past year. He then runs into Oishi (at a rather cliche place) and the two talk about the past.  
**Disclaimer:** If I owned Prince of Tennis, all the boys would be paired with each other, so that's why I write fanfiction.  
**Notes:** Urk. This took me way too long to get out, since I kept getting stuck. It's also longer than the first two parts combined. For one the first line challenge in **encryptedminds**.

By the time I was ready to forgive Oishi for withholding such an important piece of information from me for so long, he had stopped trying to call me or stop by. Then again, school had started, and I swore I'd call him; really, I did! But one thing led to another, and soon enough freshman year was over and I was back at home for break.

I did have a lot of time to think, though, as this year passed. Spent a lot of time staring at my new fish. It's actually kinda fun to watch them move around in the water (plus it's a great way to procrastinate studying for classes).

One of the things I thought a lot about was that kiss that Fuji gave me (well, okay, maybe not gave, since I ended up being a pretty willing participant). I tried to figure out what he meant by saying it was to answer both his and my questions. I didn't think I _had_ any questions - not until he kissed me at least. Then I had lots of questions, one of the biggest being 'does this mean I like guys?'.

Well, going off to university is all about experimentation, right? So I experimented. I found my first boyfriend, and it was a lot easier than I expected it to be. His name was Kiyoshi, and I had met him in one of my classes. I saw him, thought he was cute, and he did the rest by coming over to me. It was so much easier than dating girls, and just felt so much more natural. So there was an answer to a question.

It didn't last very long though, and another question was raised when we broke up. See, it was kinda my fault - I called him Oishi. I guess that wouldn't be so bad if we weren't fooling around at the time. So then there was another question raised, but maybe it had been there all along?

I realize now that I had feelings for Oishi way back when we were still in junior high, but I pushed them away, made myself forget about them. I guess I couldn't totally forget, since that's why I felt so betrayed when he left me - yes, me, because that's what it felt like - behind to go off to Tokyo University.

Well, there's the questions and the answers, but I still don't know what to do. Lying around my room and staring at my fish isn't exactly accomplishing anything. I feel restless; I have to get up, move, do something, before I go insane from the circular thoughts in my head and the soft burbling of my fish tank.

It really wasn't that much of a surprise when I found that my feet had brought me to a pet shop - well, not just any pet shop, but the same pet shop that Oishi and I would go to together. I seemed to find myself there each time I came home, maybe because it was familiar, maybe because I was hoping to catch a glimpse of my old friend. Did he even still come here, or did he choose to go somewhere else to buy fish food and other stuff?

I was in the back, looking at the turtles, when I heard the jingling of the door as it opened. Leaning back to see who walked in, I had only my good reflexes to keep myself from falling over when I saw a face I hadn't seen since high school graduation. Oishi.

Had it really only been a year? It felt much longer than that, and I drank in the sight of my former doubles partner as I peered around the end of the aisle I was currently in, and ended up stumbling backwards when he turned right towards me, as if he could feel me there.

Reaching out to grab one of the shelves in an attempt to steady myself, I plastered on a bright smile as Oishi appeared at the head of the aisle, looking almost disbelieving in seeing me there. After so long of wanting to see my old partner, wanting to talk to him again, now that he was here in front of me I had no idea how to act, what to say.

"Eiji..."

Had his voice always sounded that way when he said my name? My heart was pounding harder than it ever had after one of our hardest matches, and I let my false smile melt into something softer, more real. "Oishi."

"How are -"

"What's -"

I couldn't hold back the laughter that filled me when we started speaking at the same time, and I was reminded of our fight back in junior high. Though, this time, it took much longer than a day for me to be able to laugh with Oishi again. He had joined in with me barely a moment after I started, and it felt good, most of the tension between us dissolving immediately.

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

Oishi's voice held a hint of nervousness, as if worried that I'd say no, even now. If it was a year ago, I would have, because I wasn't ready to talk to him yet. Now, all I did was nod, unable to trust my voice to hold steady. We left the pet shop together, and if I looked down, I know I would have found that our steps had fallen into perfect sync, as always. There was a park nearby, so we turned in there, heading down the path towards the lake. 

Every few moments I would glance over at my old friend, taking in the changes he had seen in the past year. Oishi was still taller than me, even though I had gained a couple of centimeters recently, and his shoulders were broader. I wondered if he continued to play tennis while at university. I hadn't; I couldn't find another partner I felt comfortable playing with, and I refused to play singles. I made a promise, and I was going to keep it.

We reached the waterside and paused, the late-afternoon sun bathing everything in gold. Seemed appropriate, what with the once-Golden Pair standing there together again.

"I missed you."

Three short words, but within them I could hear his hurt, anger, and - was that longing? Maybe I was projecting my own feelings onto Oishi; it had been a year, we had grown apart. It wasn't guaranteed that I'd still know my old partner and friend as well as I once did.

"I missed you too, nya 1."

He turned to face me then, those green eyes pinning me with their steady gaze. I felt stripped bare underneath them, I wanted to hide, to keep him from seeing whatever it was he was searching for. Finally, his shoulders slumped slightly and he looked back over the water, uttering one more whispered word. "Why?"

Fuji had gotten his answers nearly a year ago, and that's when I first started seeking out mine. Now it was time for Oishi to get his. Didn't mean I wasn't going to stall a bit, though. Looking down at the grass, I decided it didn't look wet and lowered myself to the ground, stretching my legs out in front of me. Shielding my eyes with a hand against the setting sun, I gestured for him to come sit with me in the soft, spring grass.

After a moment's pause, he settled down beside me, and I could feel the warmth from his skin all along my left side. Sitting here like this was great, something we hadn't done in so long, and I took the time to savor it, something I never would have done when I was younger. Eventually, though, I had to break the silence; I had questions to answer.

"You left me, Oishi."

"But I didn't! I-"

I interrupted Oishi with a rueful laugh and a shake of my head. "Spoiled brat baby of the family, nya, remember? It doesn't matter that you didn't mean to, that's what I saw it as...even if I didn't realize that right away." I knew he would try to speak again, to apologize, and I just held up a hand, eyes fixed on the sunset reflected in the pond's surface. 

"You ended the Golden Pair's partnership, and I figured it was only a matter of time until our friendship ended too, so I decided to end it on my own terms." A bitter chuckle escaped my lips, and I tilted my head up towards the slowly-darkening sky. "Not exactly one of my brightest ideas, nya."

"Eiji," he said, with that same tone of voice he used earlier. Hearing him say my name like that sends a tingle down my spine, and I want to hear it again, over and over again, for a long time to come. "Just because we weren't going to be playing together didn't mean that the Golden Pair was over. Gold is forever, remember?" His next words were tinged with amusement, and had me finally looking over at him curiously. "Besides, you never did beat me, and I know you could have."

"You...you knew?" I was shocked. I had no idea that Oishi knew; I didn't even really know, so how could he? Did that mean that he knew how I felt - still feel - about him? Had he known something about me that even I hadn't realized? I wouldn't be surprised if that was so, I mean this was _Oishi_. He always knew me so well, knew how to read me. That's what being partners is all about. "Oishi, you really knew?" And with those words, I asked so much more, hoping he was still just as good at knowing what I meant as he once was.

He smiled then, a warm smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling ever so slightly, and even without his next words, I knew what he would say. "I knew."

Shifting so that I faced him, I scooted a bit closer to my old partner, wanting to be able to look directly at him. "Do you still know?" My heart was beating so hard and fast, but I needed my own answer. Maybe this was really the question I needed answered all along, the others just a step towards this one.

Oishi's expression grew serious, and for a moment I was afraid that he would get up and leave, but instead he spoke, so softly I had to strain to hear his words. "I always knew. I never stopped knowing, Eiji, but I had all but given up on you ever knowing the truth yourself."

"Oishi, I have really good eyesight, right? It picks up on the littlest things, nya, but even then it doesn't always see what's right in front of me." I bit down on my lower lip, worrying it between my teeth, and just looked at you for a long moment. "Can you forgive me for being so blind?"

I should have seen it coming, but all of a sudden his lips were on mine and any coherent thought flew from my head. All I was aware of was the feel of Oishi's lips as he kissed me, then of his hand as it reached up to tangle in my hair. I didn't even care about the fact that he was ruining the perfectly flipped hairstyle. There were much more important things to be thinking about, like the tongue that was currently lapping at my lips, asking for entrance. I could do nothing but comply, and the taste of him was heady, with just a hint of the mints I remember him carrying in his tennis bag.

When we finally broke apart for air, he smiled again, and I know I had a silly grin on my face. "Does that answer your question?"

He never did know why I laughed.

1 nya - Eiji nonsense noise, doesn't really mean anything, just his pattern of speech.


End file.
